Exploring Vowel Space
 The course’s signal-processing capabilities make many
other open-ended interactive exercises possible. For instance, students can use real-time
vowel synthesis for interactive exploration of the vowel space.
In this exercise, students investigate the relation between
locations in the vowel quadrilateral, articulatory configurations, and the vocal tract
transfer function. The blue square is a control point, indicating a specific vowel within
the vowel quadrilateral (here, an /i/-like vowel.) The articulatory model of the vocal
tract beneath the vowel displays the corresponding articulator positions and the graph to
the right displays the corresponding vocal tract transfer function.
The student can move the control point to any location within the vowel
quadrilateral. At the same time, the corresponding vowel is synthesized and played through
headphones or a loudspeaker.
 Here, the student has moved the control point from an
/i/-like
vowel to an /e/-like vowel. By continuing to move the control point, a student can adjust
the vowel throughout the quadrilateral, seeing and hearing the result for each position.
At this point (or at any other point), the student can further alter the articulatory
configuration by clicking on the "Unrounded Lips" button to change the state of
the lips. Changing the position of the lips while keeping the control point in the same
location in the vowel quadrilateral results in an /P/-like vowel.
Returning to the initial position (the /i/-like vowel) with rounding results in an
/y/-like vowel, and the program displays the appropriate articulatory configuration and
transfer function while playing a synthetic version of the vowel.
|
